Research

Media Preservation

  • American Film Institute   Paid Subscription Required
    The American Film Institute promotes screen education throughout the United States as well as various preservation initiatives. This website provides basic information about the AFI, as well as a catalogue of the Louis B. Mayer Library.
  • American Widescreen Museum  
    The American Widescreen Museum is a collection of online exhibitions on a variety of film exhibition and technology topics, including wide screen systems, color history, sound development, aspect ratios, preservation, and restoration. The websites feature a variety of resources such as technical publications, filmographies, poster galleries, journal publications, and other reference tools.
  • Association of Moving Image Archivists   Peer Reviewed
    AMIA is a professional organization of archivists, historians, and librarians concerned with the preservation of the moving image. This website features basic information about the association and its functions, as well as information on its various publications.
  • Critical Commons  
    Critical Commons is a non-profit advocacy coalition that supports the use of media for teaching, learning, and creativity by providing resources, information, and tools for scholars, students, educators and creators. The website offers film, television, and video clips, accompanied by commentary.
  • FOCAL International  
    Based out of England, "the Federation of Commercial Audiovisual Libraries [FOCAL] International Ltd, is a not-for-profit professional trade association providing excellent networking and marketing opportunities for content industry professionals". Although it is chiefly designed for members, FOCAL's website also contains a number of articles selected from its publication, Archive Zones.
  • International Federation of Film Archives   Peer Reviewed
    FIAF is an international association of film archives dedicated to the preservation of the moving image. Although the actual catalog of associated-archival holdings is only available to paying users, the website also hosts a variety of free information pertaining to film preservation, most notably fully downloadable back issues of the Journal of Film Preservation.
  • National Film Preservation Foundation  
    Since created by Congress in 1996, the National Film Preservation Foundation has given preservation grants to 176 institutions across 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and has helped save more than 1,322 films and footage collections. The foundation also publish DVDs and guides and support other national preservation and access projects.
  • Thanhouser Company Film Preservation Inc.  
    This nonprofit organization is engaged in "the research, acquisition, preservation and publication of educational materials related to the early silent motion picture era," specifically by making available films by the Thanhouser Film Company, an early silent-cinema studio. The website also offers a general history of Thanhouser as well as information on its players and filmmakers.
  • VideoActive: Creating Access to Europe's Audiovisual Heritage  
    VideoActive has created a consortium to facilitate interaction between moving image archives and academic institutions, with an emphasis on television preservation.